Today's game is some more Halo. I finally got around to trying some Forge Games (Only 450 Hours in on Steam alone). We got a whole bunch of stuff to try. Like one we got called Jenga. It's a game of infection where the Zombies have Grav-Hammers and try to Fling things at the Humans who are stacked on some floating boxes that can be dislodged.

It's a lot of fun, and there's some sort of satisfying terror of seeing a Warthog whiz past your head:

Halo Reach has some really satisfying physics, which makes this mode all the more fun to play.

We did another mode called Run from Barney. In it you're in an obstacle course with an invincible enemy who's the titular "Barney". Your goal is to make it to the end without being caught.

Despite it's name, it really subverts Halo to me. There's no way to fight back. There's no way to kill the enemy. Your only option is to run. It's almost terrifying in a way to have the power Halo usually gives you ripped away from you all while being chased down by an individual with the name "Barney".

There was also Forklift Sumo. It's pretty straightforward. We just all get in forklifts and try to push each other off. There's not much else to say.

We then did a Gamemode called Michael Myers. This one was really fun and creative. There's one zombie who's Invincible until the last Human is alive. Then you can kill them. In a way it's a satisfying game of Hide and Seek which becomes 1v1 Infection right at the end.

The map that's paired with it is fun too. It's narrow and has tight corridors, so theres nowhere to really hide. Just run and avoid the killer and hope to lose them.

And of course, i couldn't try Custom Games without tackling Griffball. This is a blast, both literally and metaphorically. I think we need more than our usual 6 for this. But besides that it's still great fun. I want to try and find some more courses for it. I think it'd be fun to get some variety.

Playing these was fun, especially since it gave me time to install the next game i want to try playing.

Today’s game is Borderlands The Pre Sequel. I had my friend play this with me again and we had a fun time. Though I can’t say we’ll be playing again any time soon. As 1) It’s absolutely miserable to censor the information to protect his privacy 2) He’s under leveled on our save due to losing all his progress to the cloud, so he has to go play a bit by himself to level up. Mostly the issue is 2.

I feel like I’m struggling a lot more with this too. Maybe it’s just too much Halo changing how I play, maybe it’s my fever addled brain, or maybe I’m just getting old when I’m only around 2 decades old.

I just found myself being knocked down a bunch though and having to fight to revive. Part of me wonders if I’m playing the game wrong. It strikes me as a bit RPG-Like, so maybe I need to grind.

I did settle into a steady play style though with this burst shot rifle and my other one being one that shoots electric bolts. It’s been good so far, even if getting downed is semi common. I think maybe i just need practice.

As mentioned my friend needed to level up more. So we didn’t end up playing more than an hour and a half. It was fun though despite the challenge we faced. Once he catches up I’ll definitely be doing this again (despite my complaints about the challenge of censoring them).

Today’s game is Halo Master Chief Collection. It was gonna be a different game, but I… may have made a fuck up today. I was having issues with steam, and read you could just delete everything except app data and it will be fine. So that’s what I did. Only… I forgot to back up my screenshots and clips. I have all the ones before today saved elsewhere, but it does suck to lose all those. I’m glad I just didn’t lose more because I didn’t stop and think though. Thankfully some images and clips are all I lost though.

Anyways, since I’m sick and all my planned screenshots from today were gone, I played some Halo with friends. It was nice to have something to be able to do and socialize while sick.

We played a game of Capture the Flag, which was great. One of our friends who hasn’t had as much play time as us is rapidly catching up to our skill level, and I couldn’t be prouder.

We ended in a tie as we reached a stalemate and couldn’t push past the 2 flag point. Though, I just barely saved our flag at the end to keep it at a tie.

I’ve also developed a new found love for the needler. Except Halo 2’s. That one is less reliable than my cat with a mouse. Which is to say not at all reliable. Reach absolutely tears through enemies. I’ve legit cleared all the other players multiple times with it. It’s amazing. Halo 3’s as well. Halo CE feels a bit weird but I like it.

We also played a game of Assault. Absolute blast as always. I pulled a cool move with a grav lift and made a sprint to plant the bomb. I got a really lucky throw in and they weren’t able to disarm it in time, which secured us the win.

We ended on a game of Snowbound where I got demolished, coming in last place for the first time in a while. Not that I mind. I’m just happy to spend time with my friends, even though we shit talk each other.

Honestly, Halo isn’t a bad way to spend being sick. It was fun to hang out and have a way to socialize like that. Though, I found my energy leaving at the end so I had to go sleep. And on a similar note. I’m going to take a nice long nap after this.

Today's game is some more Cult of the Lamb. I finally got all the domestic issues sorted out. I spent the entire session today just chilling at home. Unlike my comparison last time to Oxygen not included, i think this game is a lot more "recoverable". As with a little work i was able to get all my stuff in order and back to peace as usual.

I got the bodies buried finally. I felt bad with just a body pit so now we have a graveyard. I gave them a path and our local poet seems to love writing in this spot. Maybe i'll give him a seat to write in so he doesn't have to sit on the ground.

I got all our bed issues fixed too and the people who were sick are currently on the mend (or already better). I also upgraded a few now that we have people who can chop wood. Again.

I ended off today cooking dinner for everyone. With how i didn't touch the levels i've evolved this game from a Rougelike to just playing Adoptive Parent for a lot of people.

I know it doesn't seem like i got a lot done, but it was quite a bit of work getting everything back to peace as I not only had to put in the work, but also tend to regular tasks. Not to mention i'm coming down with something and had to babysit an assignment i had compiling that was taking a freakishly long time for some reason. So all in all, very productive day.

Today’s game is some more Halo PvP. After yesterday I got my friends together for another game of PvP (and i also went achievement hunting to work towards my 100%, I won’t go over that here though). I wanted to practice some photography basics for my class, so I set up a grid using a second monitor and OBS. It’s not the worst solution, that’s for sure.

I got this Screenshot during a game of Assault we did. It was a blast. One of my friends got a little distracted and took a Ghost for a swim. I am really happy with this photo. Sure, composition is a little basic. But there’s just something about it I love, so I wanted to share it with everyone.

I ended up winning, and I’m so damn proud of the strategy I used. We drove the Mongoose onto the wall and through the tunnel on the right side of the map. I honestly didn’t expect it to work purely because in voice call, my Teammate said “I didn’t know you could drive the Mongoose up the stairs onto the wall like this”.

Somehow we got lucky though and managed to charge up to the gate. Hop it. And drop the bomb. We employed a similar strategy for the other Bomb win we got, only we charge through the main entrance. They were waiting at the side entrance expecting us to try the same trick again due to a diversion I set up, so once we barreled through it was a straight shot. We faced some opposition in the count down but ended up making it.

There was of course a game of capture the flag we did. This one was awesome too and we were far more neck in neck.

I don’t think i would have won if the enemy pursuing me didn’t just… jump off backwards. It was a really fortunate moment.

Also, I just wanted to stop and point out how gorgeous the skybox is. I’ve never really stopped to look at it until taking my photos, so it’s really pretty.

We ended off on a game of Halo Reach Slayer. I think I had the advantage here due to how much Reach I’ve been playing, but my friends still put up a really good fight.

Though there were some humorous moments watching it back, like this one of my friend trying to shoot another friend through the glass floor. And then trying again, and then a third time like it would make a difference. It was funny to watch. I would have clipped it if clips were working right.

I do think after today I might need to take a break from Halo. I one of my friends is getting sick of it. I might go work on one of my single player games like Cult of the Lamb. I really like the photos from today though, and I wanted to thank everyone for giving me a reason to practice. I’m not sure I would have if I wasn’t able to kill two birds with one stone like this

Today's game is some more Halo: Master Chief Collection PvP. I got some friends together to play, they ended up getting off after a bunch of matches. So, i was left alone, and i was wanting more Halo. And then i realized something. I could do something i've never done before. I could play Social Games by myself. Revolutionary thought, I know.

So i did a game of Big Team Battle, and I felt like Frodo and Sam when they separate from the rest of the fellowship. Like, i'm over here off on my own pursuing my own thing. I love my group, but it was a liberating feeling.

I held this center hallway for almost the entire game with a Battle Rifle and a Sniper. There was a brief moment where i died and had to head back over, but for the most part it was in this hallway.

Honestly, Big Team Battle kind of changed how i feel like i played Halo. Like, normal Slayer i feel like i should move a lot to wrack up kills. Big Team Battle i feel like i did better Hunkering down and holding a position. It was an interesting feeling.

There was a brief moment where i was in a hornet. I don't know why but i did not feel like my shots were doing anything to this wraith. Maybe they're stronger in PvP, but i had a constant line of fire on it for about 20 seconds and there was no visible damage.

Me and my friends also did a game of Capture the Flag. I love my friends, but the two on my team don't have as much experience as me, so i was doing some carrying (They're still great people though, i had fun). We lost, but we did capture the flag once, and it was a magical moment. I protected the flag bearer with the sniper, and cleared the entire rest of my friends on the enemy team. I cleared them from the Gravity Launcher, and while for some reason he chose to sprint down the bridge with less cover, i managed to provide enough cover fire for him to carry the flag back to ours. It was an amazing moment and one of those moments were teamwork just clicks and it's highfives all around. Despite my criticism for my friend's path choice, he still did an amazing job.

In a far more humbling moment, we did a game of infection too. I got baited into going up the grav lift and into a trap by the zombie. It was a surprising moment, and i almost felt a sting of pride because this player has been playing Halo PvP with me a lot, and seeing him pull a move like this made me happy for him and proud i was able to assist him getting to this skill level.

There were a few more matches in between the ones i listed above, but they weren't really interesting. There was a cheat though i found on Reflection during Infection, where if you parkour onto the center pillars the zombie i guess can't reach you. Maybe if they're really good at the lunge, i'm not sure though. Besides that though there wasn't really much, especially on the level of interesting as the Big Team Battle and the game of CtF. I want to try and play some more, and i was telling the same friend i was proud of that i'd help him through Halo CE Legendary. He wanted to make a youtube video on it and i told him i'd help him.

Today’s game is Cult of The Lamb. Things have started going to utter shit after the last post about this game. See that guy above? Picked a fight and murdered another cultist, and then tried to dissent. If it was just the dissenting I’d let him go, but he killed someone so he gets jail time and reeducation for that.

Bodies also have been piling up, and I’m low on wood so I can’t just bury them. Surprisingly only one of them was of non-natural causes. The rest all died of Old Age. It doesn’t help that half my work force is just gone so we can’t chop wood at a steady pace, even after I built a second wood station.

I of course have taken to the main quests to get wood, and that’s provided a pretty good source. I even killed the second Boss, and I’m now ready to move on to the third.

Overall, this is starting to remind me of Oxygen Not Included, just a bit less brutal. In that game if one thing goes wrong everything starts falling apart. This is very similar where if one thing starts going bad, everything starts going bad.

Tomorrow I want to try and get everything sorted out. Maybe some more farms, and wood cutters. Hopefully that will be enough to keep things stable.

Today's game is some more Halo. Big surprise, i know. I'm building up a ton of hours in this game to the point it's about to offset TF2 (which i was actually addicted too in Highschool, sometimes playing for entire 12 Hour sessions(Minus hygiene breaks of course)).

We played some Capture the Flag which was fun. We've avoided Team Based modes in the past due to our group being super unbalanced. For context, Me and 1 other player have done all campaigns on Legendary and are working on LASO, another Player has done Legendary for all but Halo 2, which he stopped on Gravemind, and the other 3 have only played on Normal Solo. This isn't to say they're bad players or they're killing the vibe, but it can sometimes make Teamwork based modes a little more difficult. Mostly though i don't want to kill their fun with a matching that ends up feeling unfair.

I ended up setting something up though to just Shuffle everyone in to teams. I wish it was a native MCC feature, but for now this will work. Being able to hit Shuffle is a lot more fair feeling then trying to divide things out into what we feel would be Balanced. That way, sure, we end up getting our shit kicked in some times, but other times there will be balancing that feels a lot better.

As for the actual gameplay (and i'm sure the part people actually care about), i ended up swiping the enemy flag for the entire game. They managed to score the 3 points needed to win, but i'd swoop in and play the most annoying game of keep away just to make them work for it. My strategy was too sneak up to the cliff until they couldn't see me, then sneak and hide in the teleporter room. Then, since i had a shotgun, i'd hide their until someone found me and then cycle up to the roof of my building. If someone found me there i'd loop back to the teleporter room. Somehow I managed to score 2 points doing this, and one of my friends told me i was "Annoyingly good and hiding with the flag", which i'm choosing to take as a compliment.

There also was our Halo 3 match, which was far more evenly matched it felt. Despite what i was saying earlier about wanting things to be a bit more balanced feeling for my friends (or to at least avoid my team placement being clouded by bias), they are all catching up to my skill pretty fast. One of them has to play with Keyboard and Mouse, and i think if he actually managed to get his controller working he'd be a natural.

We ended off with a game of firefight, which lasted for a total of 20 minutes. It only ended when we got bored and started trying to kill eachother (but sneakily). It was down to the last two of us, and we got into a warthog and i drove us off a cliff. I think my friend was planning to hop out and sticky me, so ultimately i think i won with that play, even if we both died.

Today’s game is some more Cult of the Lamb. A lot of these screenshots were taken with the photo mode. I’m taking a photography class right now, partly for fun, partly so I can take better screenshots. So that was some practice for rule of 3rds and PowerPoints.

I’ve been trying to collect followers for the most part today. I figured the more followers, the more stable of a community I can build. I let this older guy in specifically. He can’t do any sort of labor, but he’s chill so he can stay.

He brought with him two more followers soon after that were sick. I’m not one to turn away people I can so easily help, so I built them some beds and got them some rest. I had to isolate one guy because he snores but besides that they’re resting now as we speak.

Someone yesterday mentioned this game can kind of make you swallow your morals, so i got the idea to try and do this as morally as possible. Though, now that I think about it, if my morality is spurred by me doing a challenge, am I the morally just one or is it simply the challenge motivating me with psychological gain?

So far the most evil thing I’ve done is trick someone into eating a bowl of shit at another follower’s request. These things have kind of been escalating, so I hope I don’t get asked to kill another follower, but we’ll see.

I ended off my day with some nice relaxing gardening. My followers were heading off to sleep so I tried to help out by watering crops and mining some stuff. I also tore up a path I wasn’t too fond off.

Today's game is Cult of the Lamb. I'd like to apologize to this game, as when i first saw it, I wrote it off as just being a "Here's a cute thing + satanism" kind of game. I don't mean it as a bad thing or some sort of jab to say "this thing bad", but it is not my personal taste. I decided to give it a try though after having a friend convince me to, and i have to admit that the game play is really fun. And the art style, the Lamb is adorable. I do wish there was more depth to them, though i wonder if it was something the developers intended for the Lamb to just seem like a Vessel of the Player's will.

There's the Cult Building section, which reminds me of Fire Emblem Fates, which had a similar section where you build your Army's camp, mixed with a little bit of Grave Yard Keeper (which i need to finish now that i think about it).

The combat though is really where i'm surprised. I, personally, am not a fan of Roguelikes. It's not that i think they're bad, just personally they are not for me. This one in particular though i find myself really enjoying. I'm not sure why, maybe because it's not difficult, or because of how it affects the building segment, but I find myself enjoying. I personally like stacking a poison buff on top of a powerful weapon, and taking a swing at everything to poison them.

I got as far as the first boss today, so something tells me this won't be a long game at all, though, then again it does have 50 Achievements, so it may be far longer, we'll see though.

Today's game is some more Halo. I came home from the showing of Return of The King i mentioned yesterday, having gone with friends this time. During the movie, one of them leaned over and whispered to me "this makes me want to play Halo". It's funny to me i wasn't alone in that thought. Anyways, so we made plans for some PvP.

Our first match was Halo 2 One Flag. Absolutely one of the worst matches i ever had the pleasure of playing. I'm not one to complain when other players are more skilled, but this was at a horrendous level. Within the first 10 seconds i got taken out by a grenade lobbed from the other side of the map, and then any other time i spawned in i would get sniped within 5 seconds by a player who had taken control of the Sniper Rifle. Absolutely miserable.

We turned off CTF after that and it was far better. we were pretty evenly matched for most our games. We got a Reach slayer game which we won by about 5 points. I ended up grabbing a shotgun and protecting the sniper though because the enemy team kept making a beeline for ours for some reason.

After that we got headhunters which was a blast. We dominated for the first half but then the enemies got in a groove and caught up. We still won, but it was by a measly 8 points. I don't remember who i played this match against but it was a blast playing against them.

And then finally there were two Halo 2 games back to back with the same enemy team which i also had a blast on. We won the first one but the enemy won the second. During the second one we kept fighting for control over the sniper at the top of the room and that kind of kept us occupied until someone found the energy sword and we got into a scuffle over that. They won by 1 point. It was really neck in neck which was fun.

We had to stop after that as one of our players was exhausted, but it was fun playing PvP and only getting our shit kicked in by other players once. Limiting it to just regular Slayer helps, along with Action Sack, but it does suck we have to avoid other modes of we don't want to get matched against players way out of our league.

Today's game is Halo CE. I just got back from a showing of The Two Towers Extended Edition, and for some reason that left me with an urge to play CE. So that's what i did. I at first decided to just try for par time on some CE levels i'm missing them on. It went well for the one i attempted but i eventually got stuck a little and missed time by a minute.

So instead i decided to see how i fare on legendary solo. I've made a lot of growth since i first played legendary. I believe Pillar of Autumn took maybe an hour to do Co-Op Legendary? This took me around 25 minutes.

I got stuck once and it was in a room with some stairs and 4 doors with a bunch of elites. I ended up opting too sprint past and Sgt. Johnson made it past with me. I like the Ally AI in these games because they don't feel to obstructive (usually) and they feel like they have a lot of depth with their banter.

I ended up having to part ways with the Sgt. for now and made my way through the rest of the level to the escape pod. With the trusty noob combo though i made it through pretty fast. I only died one other time near the escape pods.

I stopped to configure my resolution just to mess with it, and got this screenshot at 640x480 but then it crashed. It was late anyways and i have a showing of Return of The King extended edition to catch tomorrow anyways, so it worked out well for me. On the upside i got an achievement i needed which brought me from 75% of all Achievements in the MCC too 76%. Which is a step closer to my goal. Hopefully i reach 80% soon.